severity 14383 wishlist thanks Pavel Machek wrote: > On systems like linux, cp / -a --one-file-system (destination) will > not copy whole root filesystem. It is not cp's fault, but the > behaviour is quite surprising to the users, so maybe it would be worth > warning in man page? > > Something like > > -x, --one-file-system > stay on this file system > > Note that on systems that allow mounts over non-empty > directories (like Linux), cp / -ax (destination) will > not copy whole filesystem. In particular, content of > /dev will not be usually copied, because distributions > mount tmpfs over /dev. > > [Ok, there's hopefully better wording...?]
But isn't that the entire purpose of -x? To avoid copying files on other file systems? I am just not sure about having a description that is "don't copy files on other filesystems" and then "warning: does not copy files on other filesystems". I have never liked the wording of "stay on this file system". Usually describing things in the positive, saying what it does, is best. But I always felt that with -x describing it in the negative, saying what it does not do, would be better wording. Bob
